NBA Rumors: Rounding Up Trade Buzz on Danilo Gallinari and Possible Kings Moves

Nearing 10 games into the season for each team, all is right in the NBA.

Cleveland-Atlanta-Toronto have a grip on the Eastern Conference, Los Angeles-Golden State-San Antonio control the Western Conference. Philadelphia-New Orleans have combined for two wins and the Los Angeles mentioned above isn't the Lakers, but those young Lakers are in the playoff chase.

Oh, and the Sacramento Kings might hold another fire sale.

The potential trades around the league might be the most interesting part. Though the quantity of the rumblings hasn't shot through the roof yet, the quality has. Here's a look at the top comments from the mill as of late.

Danilo Gallinari on the Market?

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

This isn't too surprising, but the Denver Nuggets have started the season 3-6. An Emmanuel Mudiay-Jamal Murray backcourt looks to have plenty of potential down the road, but the coaching staff still hasn't figured out how to deploy Nikola Jokic and Jusuf Nurkic down low.

Then there is Danilo Gallinari.

Denver wants to space the floor with Gallinari and usually plays best when he's at the 4 next to Jokic or Nurkic. This creates a problem, of course, because it makes one of the talented big men ride the bench.

As such, it didn't register as much of a shock when The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor revealed teams have come calling: "The Nuggets have resisted multiple trade offers for Gallinari over the past two seasons, per sources, and they’ve tried to acquire proven talent."

Denver clearly likes the option of multiple lineups. Gallinari averages 14.9 points, 1.9 assists and 4.6 rebounds on his career while shooting 36.7 percent from deep. He's also prone to something like this, captured by the league's official Twitter account:

Contenders want the 28-year-old forward for all the same reasons the Nuggets want to keep him. If Denver believes in its plan and fancies itself a future contender, he isn't going anywhere.

With Gallinari due to become a free agent in 2018, though, the odds keep increasing Denver will move him for future assets. Contenders won't mind him as a one-year rental given his skill set, and Denver might someday throw in the towel on trying to make the lineups work.

When that might happen isn't so easy to discern.

All Things Kings

It's all too easy to poke fun at the Kings.

Even the casual NBA 2K player knows better than to grab a center. Then grab another and another while shrugging at other positions.

Yet here are the Kings with DeMarcus Cousins, then 2015 No. 6 pick Willie Cauley-Stein and 2016 No. 13 pick Georgios Papagiannis.

The Kings haven't done themselves any favors if they wanted to stay out of the rumors market besides the constant rumblings surrounding Cousins.

For example, WCS might have enough beef with his current role to make some noise in this regard, as captured by ESPN.com's Marc Stein: "Keep an eye on Kings big man Willie Cauley-Stein. Word is Sacramento is open to moving the second-year big man, who wants more of a role than he has under new Kings coach Dave Joerger."

Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports

Go figure. A No. 6 pick only played 21.4 minutes per game last year while Cousins held down the center spot. Through nine games this season, he's sitting on 13.8 minutes. It should go without saying, but most teams in the league would give up the necessary assets to grab him.

Omri Casspi is perhaps the most realistic name ready to move on from the organization. According to CSN Bay Area's James Ham, he met with the team to discuss his role, though he didn't make an official trade request. 

One can almost feel Casspi ready to request it, though. He's stuck behind Rudy Gay and Matt Barnes, and rumors about the former have died and the latter is a new face with plenty to contribute. Casspi has been shoved aside in the rotation, averaging 15.3 minutes so far compared to 27.2 from last year.

Then there is Cousins, the man who arrived in Sacramento with trade rumblings swirling around his head.

That's only a slight exaggeration. Cousins, 26, is arguably the best center in the league and looks like his usual self so far this season with averages of 26.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.

As he inches closer and closer to the market, rumblings about his departure continue to show up, such as this latest note from Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com:

"

Consensus among several league sources I asked about the DeMarcus Cousins/Sacramento situation: The Kings would trade him before the deadline if they were smart. The logic is that Cousins is extremely unlikely to return to Sacramento once he becomes a free agent, and the Kings can maximize his trade value when he still has another full season remaining on his contract.

"

Most times, it seems unfair to suggest a superstar will just abandon his current team. But as mentioned, the Kings haven't exactly put up an encouraging fight when it comes to roster building.

Cousins hits the market in 2018 and will change the landscape of the NBA, getting his pick of almost any top destination and influencing others to join him. For a team like the Kings, which hit the jackpot in the first place by even acquiring him, the best move is eventually trading him for future assets.

The problem is the fact every team knows the split will happen and the Kings may never receive proper value. Is some value better than none at all?

It's the top question of many the Kings need to answer.

All stats and info via ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.

Follow Chris Roling (@Chris_Roling) on Twitter.